Russia closes its border to Italian citizens & anyone coming from Italy, to help stop spread of Covid-19

Italian citizens and any persons traveling from Italy have been banned from entering Russia, starting from midnight on Friday. With 1,016 dead and 15,000 infected, Italy remains the European country hardest hit by coronavirus.

The only exception to Moscow's exclusion is for the citizens of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia), plane crews, official delegations and for holders of residence permits in Russia, the government announced on its website.

The majority of the 28 Russians who got infected with Covid-19 are tourists who had recently traveled to Italy.

Earlier this week, Austria forbade Italians from entering the country unless they have a proper medical certificate. Vienna also halted all railway traffic with its neighbor.

More than 4,600 people have died since the coronavirus epidemic began in Wuhan, China, in late December and spread all over the world. Over 126,000 people have been infected so far, but more than a half have already recovered.

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